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Crave
| closed date = | picture format = 1080i HDTV | owner = Bell Media | slogan = | country = Canada | language = English | broadcast area = Nationwide | headquarters = Toronto, Ontario | former names = First Choice (1983–1984, 1989–1993) First Choice Superchannel (1984–1989) The Movie Network (1993–2018) | replaced names = Movie Central (in Western/Northern Canada, as of March 1, 2016) | sister names = Starz Super Écran HBO | timeshift names = | web = | sat serv 1 = Bell TV | sat chan 1 = Channels 300-303 (East SD) Channels 308-310 (West SD) Channels 1251-1253 (East HD) Channels 1261-1263 (West HD) | sat serv 2 = Shaw Direct | sat chan 2 = Channels 232-235 (East SD) Channels 251-253 (West SD) Channels 641 and 642 (East HD) Channels 647-649 (West HD) | cable serv 1 = Available on most cable systems | cable chan 1 = Channel slots vary on each provider | iptv serv 1 = Bell Aliant Fibe TV | iptv chan 1 = Channels 362-365 (SD) Channels 574-577 (HD) | iptv serv 2 = Bell Fibe TV | iptv chan 2 = Channels 300-303 (SD) Channels 1300-1303 (HD) | iptv serv 3 = Bell MTS | iptv chan 3 = Channels 211-213 (SD) Channels 1211-1213 (HD) | iptv serv 4 = Optik TV | iptv chan 4 = Channels 9406-9409 (West SD) Channels 406-409 (East HD) | iptv serv 5 = SaskTel | iptv chan 5 = Channels 200-202 (SD) Channels 500-502 (HD) | iptv serv 6 = VMedia | iptv chan 6 = Channels 301-306 (HD) | iptv serv 7 = | iptv chan 7 = | online serv 1 = Crave | online chan 1 = Over-the-top TV }} Crave (formerly The Movie Network) is a Canadian premium television network owned by Bell Media. Crave's programming includes theatrically released motion pictures, original and foreign television series, made-for-cable movies and documentaries, and occasional live sports events, stand-up comedy and concert specials. Along with French-language sister service Super Écran, Crave owns exclusive Canadian rights to most original programming from American premium services HBO and Cinemax (featured on a dedicated HBO multiplex channel within the Crave service), as well as Showtime (on Crave's other channels). Launched in 1983 as the national service First Choice, early difficulties and a subsequent industry restructuring led to its operations being restricted to Eastern Canada from 1984 to 2016; it changed its name to The Movie Network (or TMN) in 1993. The service resumed national operations in 2016, when it replaced the similar Movie Central offering in Western and Northern Canada. In 2018, the service was rebranded as Crave, and merged its operations with the Bell-owned over-the-top (OTT) streaming service of the same name (which, up until then, was branded as CraveTV). With the changes, the pay television version of the service gained access to the on-demand library of the OTT version (primarily original and acquired television series), while the OTT version added a second subscription tier, "Movies + HBO" — which adds content previously-exclusive to TMN (such as films and first-run HBO programming), and is roughly equivalent to the service sold via linear television providers. As such, the linear service is often sold by TV service providers under the name Crave + Movies + HBO. History Development .]] In 1976, Communications Minister Jeanne Sauvé was quoted as saying "(Canadian) pay television is inevitable". During the 1970s when premium television service HBO and the then up-and-coming Atlanta, Georgia superstation WTBS (now WPCH-TV) became available via satellite in North America, some Canadians who were living in underserved rural areas, wanted access to these services. The Saskatchewan government together with Cable Regina (later Access Communications) set up a provincial pay television network called Teletheatre in 1979. Growth of grey market television receive-only dishes by 1980 led the Canadian government under the administration of Pierre Trudeau to allow for pay television in Canada, and that there would be hearings to licence pay television networks in Canada. In September 1981, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) held a hearing in Hull, Quebec to license Canada's first pay television networks. There were more than 24 applicants to start such services. When First Choice Canadian Communications Corp. made its application to the CRTC in September 1981, the individuals and companies involved in the proposed channel included Donald Sobey (of the Sobeys supermarket chain), J. R. McCaig, Norman Keevil, television producer Riff Markowitz, Royfund Equity Ltd. (a mutual fund division of the Royal Bank of Canada), AGF Management Ltd. and Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. Together, they had $19 million in equity financing and proposed to spend $310.4 million over five years on Canadian television production. Estimated profit (over five years) would be $3.1 million. A pay television licence was issued by the CRTC to First Choice on March 18, 1982. The channel's first president was Donald MacPherson. At the time that First Choice applied to the CRTC, it estimated that to program major American movies, entertainment specials and Canadian movies and specials, pay for satellite time, and marketing of the channel, it could sell it to the cable companies at a wholesale rate of $7.50 each month. However, by the time the channel launched, and providers received their revenue from the pay television services, the retail cost of First Choice jumped significantly to $15.95 ( ). Launch and evolution When First Choice was launched on February 1, 1983, it operated as a national premium service; the network's original slogan was "Look Out for Number One! Look Out for First Choice!" The network inaugurated programming with a two-hour promotional reel announcing the programming that First Choice would carry, followed by a replay of The Who's farewell tour concert special; the airing of The Who concert which had been aired live on other channels in Canada the year before, as well as the two-hour promotional ad had several critics wondering about the channel's claims that it would be commercial-free and not play reruns. These programs were followed by first movie ever to be broadcast on First Choice, For Your Eyes Only. At 10 a.m. Eastern/7 a.m. Pacific Time that day, First Choice aired Star Wars and continued to replay the film every other day for eight hours. The channel offered its programming for free for 14 days starting with the channel's first day of operation, before it was scrambled, except to those subscribers who wanted to pay the extra fee to continue receiving the channel. Before the advent of stereo television and home theatre systems, subscribers who paid for cable FM service could receive a stereo feed of First Choice. During its first year, First Choice aired a two-hour block of programming from the American adult-oriented pay service The Playboy Channel (now Playboy TV) as part of a late night programming block on Fridays. The broadcast of these softcore pornographic programs resulted in opposition from many domestic feminist groups. After a disappointing run for pay services in general, the industry was restructured in late 1983 and into 1984, and First Choice's service area was restricted to Canadian provinces east of the Ontario-Manitoba border, with competitor Superchannel (later Movie Central) taking territorial rights to the west of that border. As part of this restructuring, film production company Astral Bellevue Pathé (later known as Astral Communications, then Astral Media) took a controlling interest in First Choice, and its principal owner Harold Greenberg became the channel's new president; Astral became sole owner by 1993. The two regional services used the First Choice-Superchannel name from 1984 to 1988, before they were split again in September 1988. Beginning in 1984 (but particularly after the split from Superchannel), First Choice also made use of the slogan "The Movie Network"; this became the name of the channel itself in 1993. First Choice was originally granted a bilingual licence; it also operated a 24-hour French-language channel under the same licence, which was called Premier Choix. In early 1984, that service was merged with another Quebec-based pay-television network, TVEC, to form Super Écran, which continues to exist today. On October 1, 1994, The Movie Network launched a companion film service, TMN Moviepix (the channel would undergo two renamings – first to Moviepix in 1996 and then Mpix in 2001 – before eventually becoming The Movie Network Encore on September 18, 2012Classic Movie Channels Mpix and MorePix Re-Brand to The Movie Network Encore and The Movie Network Encore2 CNW 2012-08-20). In July 2013, Astral Media was acquired by Bell Media. End of duopoly, further developments On November 19, 2015, Movie Central owner Corus Entertainment announced that as a result of a strategic review, it had decided to exit the pay TV business to concentrate on its national specialty channels, and would discontinue Movie Central along with Encore Avenue. To that end, Corus reached an agreement with Bell through which TMN became a national service once again on March 1, 2016, with Movie Central customers automatically transitioning to TMN. TMN Encore also expanded nationally for the first time, and Bell took over full operation of HBO Canada (previously a jointly-operated multiplex channel of both TMN and Movie Central). Although Bell did not buy the Movie Central licence, it paid Corus C$211 million in exchange for Corus' assistance in allowing TMN's national expansion. The CRTC had quietly given administrative approval (i.e., approved without a request for public comment) to applications to allow TMN and TMN Encore to operate nationally in July 2015, so no further regulatory approval was required. (see applications 2015-0639-6 and 2015-0640-4) This meant that Bell was not required to fund a public benefits package worth 10% of the transaction value, as would typically be required by the CRTC in the event of a licence transfer. On January 23, 2018, Bell Media announced that it had reached new licensing deals with Lionsgate and Starz Inc., under which the company will hold pay-TV window rights to Lionsgate releases, and TMN Encore will be rebranded as a Canadian Starz channel in 2019. "The All-New Crave" In October 2018, a Rogers Cable service bulletin stated that beginning in November, The Movie Network subscribers would begin to receive Bell's over-the-top subscription service CraveTV as part of their service. On November 1, 2018, Bell announced that CraveTV had merged with The Movie Network, with both services renamed Crave (and promotions marketing the relaunch as "The All-New Crave"). Under the service's new structure, subscribers to the existing CraveTV OTT service may upgrade their subscription to a $19.98 "Crave + Movies + HBO" tier, that adds the content formerly associated with TMN, as well as access to current HBO content. This marks the first time that the service formerly known as The Movie Network has been offered on a standalone basis without a television subscription. Existing TMN television subscribers are able to access the library previously branded as CraveTV as part of their subscription, which includes various television series as well as new and existing Showtime programming. The original OTT-only service without films or current HBO programming remains available at its existing $9.99 price. Bell Media head Randy Lennox cited increasing competition with Netflix as a basis for the decision. Channels TBA Programming TBA Duopoly issue TBA References TBA External links TBA